fathers give her two rupees, and she also asks her mother-in-law for some money. Her husband’s youngest brother then makes the auspicious red mark on her forehead and slaps her seven times on her right cheek, for which kind office the girl’s parents pay him handsomely in rupees! The husband’s sister plays yet another part, for she now ties a silver and gold thread on the young wife’s right hand (which she will take off, however, the next day). A lucky woman then presents rice, lotus seed and a pomegranate to the girl, who gets up and bows to her mother-in-law and other elders as a sign that the ceremony is complete.
The next day the young wife receives sweetmeats from her father’s house and distributes them amongst her husband’s relatives, and on the third day she goes to her own old home and stays there till the child is born. She does not usually return to her husband’s house till the child is three months old, and then the maternal grandfather makes a handsome present of jewellery.
Death ceremonies.When a Jaina seems to be dying, his relatives summon a monk or nun to preach to the patient. As the ascetic is not allowed to sit, he cannot preach for very long at a time, so a devout layman or laywoman may be called in to supplement his work. In a case the writer knew, where a Jaina lady was dying of consumption, this religious instruction was given for three hours a day for twenty-two days.
As death approaches, the patient is urged to take the vow[1] of giving up all attachment to worldly things and of abstaining from all food. Enormous sums are given in charity by the dying man or his relatives to ensure his happiness in the next world. (Recently in the writer’s town, for instance, one gentleman gave Rs. 70,000 on his death-bed, and the sons of another, who was killed in a railway accident, immediately gave Rs. 15,000 in their father’s name.) Then the name of Mahāvīra is repeatedly whispered in the dying man’s ear, till all is over.
- ↑ See Santhāro, p. 163.
